McMINNVILLE, Ore. – In a season chock-full of milestones, the top-ranked Linfield softball team made history twice more Tuesday night at Del Smith Stadium.
Sweeping visiting Willamette 16-0 and 5-2, the Wildcats capped an historic 2024 regular-season schedule undefeated at 40-0.
Based on research conducted by the NFCA staff, only one program in the history college softball at all levels – the 2015 Division III national champion Tufts squad – completed its regular season (and eventually the postseason too) with an unblemished record.
Tuesday's victories moved Linfield to 28-0 in Northwest Conference play. The Wildcats became the first NWC program in history to record an unbeaten conference season since the league moved to a 28-game format in 2004.
Unbeaten but playing far fewer games, Pacific Lutheran recorded unbeaten conference slates in 1999 (15-0) and 1996 (17-0). Three times previously, Linfield teams came remarkably close to a perfect NWC season – in 2023, 2011 and 2010 – each time finishing with 27-1 conference records.
None of those seasons can match Linfield's remarkable 2024 run of 28 straight conference wins and 40 consecutive regular-season victories.
Against Willamette,
Ashlyn Aven went 4 for 5 at the plate and drove in four runs.
Claire Seats was 4 for 6, including two home runs and five RBIs.
Wildcats All-America pitcher
Tayah Kelley earned a win in the opener and collected a save in the nightcap, striking out the final two batters to clinch the program's perfect regular season.
GAME 1: Linfield 16, Willamette 0, 5 innings
Kelley fanned eight Bearcats and limited Willamette to just two hits in earning her 24th pitching victory of 2024 and 29th career shutout.
Brynn Nelson opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first inning and
Jacey Leyvas followed with a single to drive home Nelson for a quick 2-0 Linfield advantage.
In the second, Aven laced a double to the gap in center field, pushing pinch runner
Annika Dayberry home from second base. With the bases loaded, Bearcats starter Abigail Loomis issued a walk to Seats, making the score 4-0 for the hosts.
Linfield piled up 12 runs runs in the fourth. Nelson drew a bases-loaded walk off Loomis before Leyvas reached base on a fielder's choice, scoring
Kaili Saathoff from third.
Ashley Sutton drew a third bases-loaded walk, and Aven looped a single down the right-field line to score two more.
Cydney Hess blasted a grand slam homer on her second at-bat of the inning, and later
Savannah Fitzgerald connected on an RBI single to center field, pushing the final margin to 16-0.
GAME 2: Linfield 5, Willamette 4
Seats, the NWC home run leader, clubbed two roundtrippers in the contest and Aven's RBI's single in the fourth broke a 2-2 tie, but Willamette made life difficult for the Wildcats in the late inning before eventually settling for a one-run loss.
The Bearcats plated their first runs of the four-game series in the first inning when Majors threaded a single to center field, bringing home Emma Elliott and Jenna Hopkins.
Linfield wasted no time in tying the game up. Seats ripped off her 10th home run of the season, a two-run blast, in the bottom of the frame.
Willamette had positioned the potential go-ahead run at second base in the fourth but Wildcats pitcher
Tyler McNeley struck out Hopkins swinging for the third out.
Seats then added a pair of runs, including the eventual game-winner, with her second home run of the game and 12th of the season in the fifth.
Willamette cut the margin to 5-3 when Kendra Knapp hit a solo home run in the seventh. The Bearcats picked up another run on Lucero's RBI double to left-center minutes later.
McNeley finished the game with her 16th win. She struck out seven batters while giving up seven hits and one walk.
Kelley came on in relief with one out in the seventh. She proceeded to strike out the final two batters, pocketing her fourth save of the season. The fifth-year senior raised her program-record strikeouts total to 859.
THANK YOU SENIORS
Prior to Tuesday's contests, the Linfield coaching staff honored the Wildcats' three graduating seniors –
Tayah Kelley,
Tyler Warden and
Savannah Fitzgerald.
NEXT
The Wildcats play host this week to the NWC Tournament, Friday-Sunday at Del Smith Stadium with the winner claiming the NWC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III regional playoffs. On Friday, top-seeded Linfield will square off once more with Willamette, the No. 4 seed at 4 p.m. Second-seeded Lewis & Clark faces No. 3 Pacific Lutheran in the other opening-round game Friday at 6:30.
